87 new homes approved for Bowbridge Road, Newark, despite district council planning committee members raising concerns

Plans for 87 properties in a busy part of Newark have been approved, despite several planning committee members raising concerns.

The application for waste ground off 293 Bowbridge Road had been deferred from a previous meeting to allow Environmental Health Officers to investigate concerns raised about noise and dust.

Under the plans 61 houses, 18 flats, and eight bungalows would be built.

At a meeting of Newark and Sherwood District Council planning committee on Tuesday, members approved the application by eight votes to two.

Planning officers had recommended approval in their report, stating that there would be “no robust grounds to refuse the application on either environmental or highways safety impacts.”

The site, which is directly opposite Topblock Tarmac, which manufactures breezeblocks, was allocated for housing by the council.

However, several committee members were unhappy with the proposed plans.

Mrs Maureen Dobson said: “I think it’s the wrong place to put people with whom have got no funds necessarily to purchase buildings and and purchase homes and need to rent and I think it’s very sad that we have to do this.

“I hope that in some stage in the not too distant future that perhaps this authority might have the wherewithal to purchase alternative or more land.”

Councillor Laurence Goff, representative for Devon Ward, said: “It has effected lots of people in the Devon ward over a number of years.

“There’s so much development already taking place on Bowbridge Road. They have already been receiving noise, dust, polution.

“I won’t be supporting this application in the interests of the residents I represent.”

The land has previously been used for industrial purposes, with concerns also raised about the quality of the soil.

Mrs Yvonne Woodhead said: “Are we happy that we will be building on contaminated land, these properties that people will live in for a good while? Are we happy about that as a committee?”

The approved plans include 18 one bed flats (six supported living), six one bedroom bungalows, two two bedroom bungalows, four one bedroom houses, 32 two bedroom houses, 24 three bedroom houses and one eight bedroom house, which has also been allocated for supported living.